Christmas in July!

 

Merry Christmas in July!    

It's been a year since I've done any finishing and framing. What with losing Tiger Lily, taking on two very fragile kittens only a couple of weeks later, and moving again, I just didn't have the time or mental energy for it. As I explained to Mr. Wonderful, for me, finishing and framing is totally absorbing in a very therapeutic way, but it's also somewhat exacting work. So while it's good for what ails you, you can't be too ailing to actually do it. At least that's how it is for me. Finally being able to get into my sewing room and just disappear into my work has been so nice. Wanna see what I've been doing?

First up, a couple of Rudolph finishes: Rudolph & Friends by With Thy Needle & Thread (left) and Rudy Reindeer by Just Nan.

Rudolph is stitched on 32 ct. Flax linen with just a couple of thread changes. I brightened up the red and greens by using GAST Buckeye Scarlet (best red ever) and swapping Weeks Oscar for Weeks Garrison, and Weeks Kudzu for Weeks Oscar. I finished it with green chenille trim from Hobby Lobby and added a wee cardinal carrying a candy cane.

I stitched Rudy with the recommended DMC on 32 ct. raw opalescent Belfast linen. I made a small change to his eyes to slightly alter his expression. 

Second, snacks! (Actually, snacks should always be first.) Both designs are by Little House Needleworks, Hot Cocoa and Peppermint Twist.

Hot Cocoa is stitched on 28 ct. Coffee jobelan with the recommended DMC, except I used--you guessed it--Buckeye Scarlet instead of the rosey shade in the model. Trimmed with a little shell heart and a sprig of pine.

*****Recipe Break*****

Speaking of cozy drinks, here's a nice, simple recipe for a hot drink that's perfect for bedtime, or any time you want something soothing and not quite as rich as cocoa.

Vanilla Milk Mix

1 c. non-dairy creamer (dry)

1 c. French Vanilla creamer (dry)

1 c. dry milk powder

2 1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. corn starch

Mix all ingredients and store in an airtight container. For vanilla milk, place a generous 1/4 c. mix in a mug and fill with boiling water. Stir well. ***Mr. Wonderful adds instant espresso to his mug, which is very nice, but defeats the purpose of a sleepy bedtime drink. To each his own.

*****Back to Stitching*****

Peppermint Twist is stitched on 28 ct. Lamb's Wool linen with the recommended threads, except (all together now!) I swapped the Weeks Aztec Red for GAST Buckeye Scarlet. Y'all, there's just no other red for me, especially for Christmas designs! I made the embellishment using purchased wired trim that I wound into a peppermint.

Finally, a very sweet pair of designs by Cosford Rise Stitchery on Etsy that I showed in this post, where I also included a link to the shop and all the information on how I stitched these. I finally got them framed in matching 6" green frames from Mill Hill.

So there you have it, a little taste of Christmas in July. I really, really needed some sewing room therapy and I'm happy I can still remember how to finish and frame! I'm also working hard on this year's Christmas Open House. It's my tenth, and I'm trying to pull together a whopper! I'm a bit behind where I want to be at this point, but given the circumstances, I'm not as far off as I could be. 

I know most of the country is absolutely sweltering, and Christmas and a hot, cozy drink are probably the farthest things from your mind, but here on the ol' blog it's cool and Christmas-y and we're ignoring summer.

It's Party Time

 

In my last post, I said when I finished the house I would let y'all know and we'd have a stash party to celebrate. Break your piggy banks, y'all! I'm done! Well, I'm calling it done. There are a few things left to do, but they're the straggly kind of odds and ends that always follow a move, and there aren't many of them, so... done. Let's all treat ourselves to some stash to celebrate, because I had to battle to get this done and y'all have been encouraging me all the way. I am exhausted and so ready for a long rest. I feel like I've been in moving mode for the last 18 months, since I first started taking apart the house at our last duty station. I can finally breathe and settle.

In other news, the girls and I are unsupervised this week! It's the first time I've been on my own with the werewolves, but Mr. Wonderful is on TDY so hopefully they'll behave and not cause too much chaos. I plan to just hibernate, rest, and work in my sewing room. I have so much stitching, framing, and finishing to catch up on.

So it's party time. If you're celebrating with me, I'd love to know what stash you got. Now that I'm done with this never-ending move, I hope to be posting more regularly and sharing what I'm working on. Thanks for all the support and encouragement! Back soon!

Happy Stash Shopping!

Saturday Sampler: Werewolf Edition

Y'all, look at the size of these girls. They'll be 10 months old at the end of the month and are both pushing 10 pounds. Hard to believe that for some time after we got them we were fighting for every ounce. I had a fatigue/relief breakdown when I finally got them to 3 pounds. It felt like such a milestone. And now, what sturdy little beasts! We call them "the werewolves" because, well, look at 'em. Our precious Tiger Lily was so light and beautiful, and these two are dark and wild-looking, with fuzzy "werewolf paws" and they make such weird noises. Butterfly even howls!

So that's the baby update. The house update is that I'm still working on it. *sigh* We need to have a party when I get it done. I'll let you know, and we can all buy stash to celebrate. How does that sound?

Fabric Fun

 

New fabrics have come to live at my house! Aren't these pretty?

I got this little pansy cushion chart and while I was at it, picked up the 32 ct. Weeks Lilac linen for it. This will be a project for next spring.

This is 32 ct. Weeks Red Pear. It's not quite as pink as it appears in the picture. This is for a Christmas Open House project.

And this is a new Zweigart fabric, or at least new to me, as I hadn't seen it before. It's 32 ct. white mini dots on green. It's also available in green dots on white, and white dots on blue. This will also be for a spring project next year.

Thank you for your well wishes on my last post. I'm not sick or anything like that, just wore slap out, as we say in my family. Translation for those who don't speak Texan: exhausted. But I'm chipping away at the house, albeit slower than I'd like, and I am stitching, and as you can see, I've managed enough strength to shop! 

Winter Sampler: Icicles

Stitching is happening, y'all. Not a lot, but it's happening. For the first time in many weeks I've been able to start thinking about and working on Christmas Open House again, and I have even gotten a couple of stash orders (more on those later). It doesn't really feel like home until stash shows up in the mailbox!

I am slowly getting the house pulled together. I usually do this pretty quickly, but I have been so tired, and frankly, haven't felt well. Lots of stuff from the last year and a half catching up to me, I think, now that we're finally settled. I'm anxious to get my sewing room in working order because I have so much finishing and framing to do, but the sewing room is always last on the list when we move. So it will be a while before I get it sorted. 

The babies are doing fine. They're nine months old (can you believe it?) and chunky and fluffy and into everything. I guess eventually I'll have to start calling them "the girls" as they're getting so big, but they were so tiny when we got them and had such a rough start, they're still babies in my mind. 

So that's how things are here. Just plodding along with the unpacking, stitching a little in the mornings before I start my day's work, and turning my mind to all things stitchy: Christmas Open House, Year of Winter, things I want to stitch next year, stash, a surprise I'm working on for y'all...

Wait, what?

Stay tuned!

Moving Update: In, With the Door Shut

 

Throughout my dad's nearly 30-year military career, "in, with the door shut" was the goal of every move. It's that moment when the movers finish unloading in your new quarters at your new duty station, and you close the door behind them, and for the first time in weeks (often months) you breathe. It's been that way for our almost 20 years as well. 

The part of the move we did ourselves went smoothly, even if it was really hard work. The part where the movers took over? Welllll... we'll just say it took twice as long as it should have for various reasons. So we're exhausted and more than a little irritated, but we'll leave it at that because it's over, and we're in, with the door shut.

I'm now going into post-move recovery hibernation for a bit, so I leave you with pictures of the girls enjoying some of their new windows. They have a nice view of trees and birds and critters, and Butterfly has seen her first bunny, which completely blew her mind. Which reminds me, right before we moved out of the rental, Marigold spotted a turtle crawling across the patio and it undid her for the whole morning: flattened ears, arched back, puffy tail... the whole bit. Wildlife encounters can be challenging. 

Thank you for the support, see y'all when I wake up!

Moving Update: Rejoice With Me!

Gas stove! Yippeeeee!

Y'all! I am excited! I have a gas stove again! Had one for 10 years when we were stationed on the East Coast, then electric at our last duty station, and for the past year... well. This rental has an electric stove, with a glass top, with an oven that is not only not properly calibrated, but also doesn't maintain even temperature. It has been a nightmare to use. When I walked in to our new quarters and saw that gas stove I was over the moon!

Yesterday went really well. We moved a ton of stuff on our own, and are really happy with the house. Weather was perfect, nobody hurt themselves! We plan to have another busy day today, and then take a break on Saturday to rest a little and do some things around the (rental) house.

Thank you so much for all the well wishes and prayers. We really appreciate them. So far, so good!

It's Happening!

 

We get the keys to our new quarters tomorrow and will take a few days to move some things ourselves, and then the movers come on Tuesday for furniture, books (so many books), and whatever is left. I'm praying for things to go smoothly... nice weather, nobody messing up their back (looking at you, Mr. Wonderful), etc, etc. It's been a long while since we've felt settled, and that unsettled feeling wears on you. I'm so looking forward to getting the house in order and then having a bit of a fall apart. Or maybe I'll do the fall apart first, and then get the house in order!

Our little werewolves are thriving. Marigold will probably have made 9 pounds by this week's weigh-in, and Butterfly isn't far behind. They're in for a surprise, but so far they've seemed to be very adaptable kitties. I'm sure having lots of new windows with new views will help!

Saturday Sampler: Window Babies Edition

 

The babies are almost 8 months old and both weigh over 8 pounds. It took a while to get Butterfly over that mark, but she finally made it. Marigold is well on her way to 9 pounds. When we carry them around together, we're carrying a solid 17 pounds of kittens. Chonky girls. They both had a massive growth spurt this past week and looking back at my early March update, I can't believe how much they've grown just since then. They're also finally starting to shed their baby coats, although slowly. They've mastered their window manners and that's their favorite spot. They are a handful, but they have the sweetest temperaments and are little purr machines.

Winter Sampler: Deer

 

One quarter of the sampler finished! Will I be able to get the remaining dozen blocks stitched by the end of the year? I don't know! No one knows! Stick around and let's find out together!

Prescription: Goodies

 

Y'all know I am a big fan of small goodies to lift the spirits, especially in times of stress and busyness. We definitely have stress and busyness here! In case you wondered, I do not recommend moving twice in one year. Yuk. Anyway, goodies!

This little thread book (Old Tin Roof) and notions bag (Travis Creek) are from two Etsy shops in the same town in Tennessee. I don't know if they're connected in some way, but I've noticed they sometimes use the same fabrics, so when I found the thread book, I went to the other shop to see if there was a matching bag and... hooray! I simply could not resist this sweet, sleepy little calico. 

While I am thoroughly enjoying my therapeutic Year of Winter stitching, I do love spring color and it's not against the rules to buy spring goodies and stash! Year of Winter is for stitching, not shopping! (See how I worked that?)

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Meows

So here is a weird thing about the babies: they don't meow. They are very vocal and talk to us and each other quite a bit. They squeak, squeal, grunt, trill, and howl (yes), and we've even had a small bark (?), but they don't just meow. It's so odd. They even do this pathetic fake meow, where they "mouth" a meow but no sound comes out. They do it when they want something and are trying to be pitiful. Tiger Lily did this. It's so hilariously manipulative.

We've never had two cats before, let alone two kittens, and I'm wondering if this is common. Wondering if when they've been together since birth they develop a different language. I have no idea, we just find it so adorably weird.

A Year of Winter: Winter House Trio, Part 1

 

I've started my next Year of Winter project, Winter House Trio by Waxing Moon Designs. I'll be stitching them together as one piece, using the recommended threads, and making only one change.

The only change I've made is stitching the windows with DMC 3820. I wanted the houses to look warmer, as if all the lights are on during a snowy evening.

Moving prep is coming along, babies are thriving, I'm hanging in there. As we say where I'm from, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, we'll be in our quarters in about five weeks. I cannot wait to get on the other side of this move. I really, really need to feel settled. 

Hope y'all are doing well and getting into your spring stitching. I'm just over here stitching winter, and moving, and trying to raise these wee werewolves to be ladies. (Look how big!)